This artist's animation shows NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, rotating in space, revealing all sides of the spacecraft. The spacecraft's orbit is shown next. WISE will orbit over the poles of Earth, staying over the day-night, or terminator, line. Its telescope will always point away from Earth, and its solar panels will face the sun.

The animation then zooms out to show the sun. WISE can be seen surveying the whole sky in infrared, one strip at a time. It will take WISE just six months to map the whole sky. The animation ends with a previous view of the entire sky in infrared.